Sunday, November 30, 2014

The funny parts and sad, and the sad parts are funny

So, I'm finished with my NaNo novel. The title of this post succinctly describes it.

Actually, it's more David Lynch does Thelma and Louise, which sounds totally awesome but is really one frightening mess.

I hate labeling anything I've written during NaNo a first draft. A first draft, though clumsy and inelegant still should resemble literature. A NaNo draft is more like a pre-draft, or what I call a skeleton draft. Lots of useless dialog (great for upping word count) and positioning like "he did this, he moved here, smoked cigarette, washed a plate" -- anything to keep my hands moving. Will I edit it into something more coherent? Probably not. At least not now because I want to get back to my other WIP which actually does resemble a novel, however inchoate. (Even if it's dead Edmund White rip-off.) Is NaNoWriMo still time well spent? I think it is, even if you don't write a "real" story it's good hand practice.